What Fools These Mortals Be
by ljp
Summary: Do you find love, or does love find you? A tale of time-travel and lfinding ove in all the wrong places.
1. Prologue

**What Fools These Mortals Be**

Written by LJP

_Summary:_ Do you find love, or does love find you? Sometimes being in the wrong place at the wrong times changes things in ways unimaginable.  This is a story of missed opportunities, time traveling, and finding love in all the wrong places.

_Rating:_ PG13

_Disclaimer:_  Jo Rowling owns any character in this story that is familiar to you.  She is a genius, and I bow down to her imagination and ability.  Some of this plot is taken from the movie Back to the Future, so I can't really claim that either.  Of course, the title comes from my favorite playwright and yours, William Shakespeare and his wonderful work entitled A Midsummer Night's Dream.  Thank you, and have a nice day.

_Author's Note:_ It's all been done before, yes I know.  However, I promise to do my best to make this as original as possible.  Hope you enjoy, and don't forget to leave a review!

*******

**Prologue**

I don't believe in love at first sight.  It's a silly fantasy little girls make up when they're pretending to be princesses and imagine a knight in whining armor on top of a white horse coming to sweep them off their feet.  Unsurprisingly, said knight falls head over heels in love with the princess, captivated immediately by her beauty.

I am far from princess-like.  I lack grace, beauty, and poise.  I have bushy, ordinarily brown hair that never does anything I want it to.  And I have plain old-fashioned brown eyes.  I can't walk in a straight line, and I don't even want to think about what would happen if I tried to balance a book on my head.

I don't want to talk about my own shortcomings; that's not why I'm writing this.  I'm writing about love – in particular a love story, not told the fairy-tale way, even though we are all witches and wizards.  I've even seen some people slay a dragon or two.  But this isn't all that.  Not at all.

Naturally, I did not fall in love at first sight.  In fact, it was quite the opposite.  When I first set eyes on him, I abhorred him.  He was not at all attractive – greasy, stringy black hair; large, hooked nose; sallow, pale skin – and he had a horrible way about him.  He was always in a foul mood, a scowl or a sneer on his face.  He first words to me – ever – were "Put your hand down, you silly girl."

Let me explain.  You see, I had never expected to attend Hogwarts.  In fact, I hadn't even been aware of its existence prior to receiving my letter.  I had no wizarding parents, no magical blood in the family at all, as far as I could tell.  So, I wanted to prove myself.  I read up on everything all summer in order to be prepared for the first day of classes.  I took an immediate liking to Potions, a class that, at first glance, required little magical ability, just heightened senses of sight and smell and a keen intellect.  I had both.  However, hearing those words from that deep, rolling baritone on my first day as a witch sent shivers up my spine.  They crushed every dream in my ten-year old heart, and I never enjoyed Potions class again.

No, I didn't fall in love with Severus Snape at first sight.  Just like James Potter and Lily Evans didn't fall in love with each other at first sight.  It doesn't happen the way they say in fairy tales.  No, James and Lily didn't fall in love until much later, while I fell in love with Severus much earlier.

  
This is our story.

***

_Please leave me a review.  Thank you._


	2. 1

**What Fools These Mortals Be**

Written by LJP

_Summary:_ Do you find love, or does love find you? Sometimes being in the wrong place at the wrong times changes things in ways unimaginable. This is a story of missed opportunities, time traveling, and finding love in all the wrong places.

_Rating:_ PG13

_Disclaimer:_ Jo Rowling owns any character in this story that is familiar to you. She is a genius, and I bow down to her imagination and ability. Some of this plot is taken from the movie Back to the Future, so I can't really claim that either. Of course, the title comes from my favorite playwright and yours, William Shakespeare and his wonderful work entitled A Midsummer Night's Dream. Thank you, and have a nice day.

*******

**Chapter 1**

"Well, well, well – if it isn't Hogwarts' resident Mudblood."  

Hermione Granger skidded to a halt, making every effort not to plow into Draco Malfoy, who was standing with his arms crossed, his two lackeys flanking either side of him, as he stepped directly into her path.  The usual sneer was plastered onto his face, and he had one eyebrow raised over his one of his cold, gray eyes.

"I don't have time for this Malfoy."  She sighed, making to move around the three Slytherins.

Malfoy held up a hand to stop her.  "I don't think so Granger.  What's your hurry?"  When she rolled her eyes and made a move to squeeze past them along the wall, he was quicker than her.  Malfoy had her against the wall, his arms trapping her there, within seconds.  "You're not going anywhere."  He hissed.  Crabbe and Goyle laughed behind him, both rolling up their sleeves in anticipation of a fight.

"Get away from me Malfoy."  Hermione said softly, pursing her lips together to keep from growing angrier.  She didn't want to do anything she might come to regret at a later date.

"No."  He objected.  "I don't think I will."  Malfoy moved his face closer to hers, his lips dangerously near her own.  His tongue shot out, and he wet his lips.  Just as they descended toward hers though, she turned her face away, squeezing her eyes shut.  She felt his mouth hit her jawbone, and Hermione sucked in a breath.  When she struggled to get away, Malfoy pressed his body fully against hers to keep her there.  "Don't struggle, Granger.  It will only make this all the more difficult."

Malfoy nipped his teeth against the skin of her neck.  Hermione, unable to hold back any longer, brought her knee up to his groin as hard as she could.  The force sent Malfoy sprawling backward in a yelp of pain.  She took the chance to run away, as quickly as she could.  Behind her she heard Malfoy swear.  Then she heard him call out to Crabbe and Goyle.  "Don't let her get away!"

The two goons were on her tail in seconds.  Despite the fact that they both weighed several stone, they could move fast.  Hermione turned her head to see how far behind they were just as she rounded a corner near the closest staircase.  That was her first mistake.  Her second was not turning around again soon enough to avoid smacking directly into one very grumpy, very annoyed Severus Snape.

The impact of their collision sent Hermione to the ground, tumbling into the stone wall.  She hit it with a thud, and then, she disappeared.

***

"Oh look it's the Mudblood."  

Lily Evans looked up from the book she was trying to read while walking to find Lucius Malfoy less than two meters in front of her.  Behind him were Goyle and Parkinson, the  Slytherin's two personal self-proclaimed bodyguards and thugs.

Lily took a deep breath.  "Lucius, please.  I have a prefect's meeting.  I'm late enough already."  She started to walk past the three of them.

Malfoy's hand shot out and grasped her at the elbow.  She winced in pain.  "Don't walk away from me Mudblood."  He raised a single eyebrow at her and sneered.  

"Lucius, please."  Lily grunted from the loss of blood flowing to her forearm and hand.  Malfoy's grip on her was sure to leave a mark.

"Is the Mudblood begging?"  Malfoy continued.  "Why aren't you on your knees?"  He hissed, throwing her to the ground, her bag spilling her books and belongings all over the hallway.  He pulled his arm back and railed her right across the face.  Lily let out a wail of pain.  "That'll teach you to learn your place."  He glared directly at her before turning to his two lackeys, who each had a triumphant grin on their faces, and sweeping away.  "Filthy Mudblood."  He muttered, wiping his hand on his robe disgustedly.

Holding her hand to her face in pain, Lily stumbled to her feet and took off down the hall, her schoolbooks and bag forgotten as they lay scattered amongst the hallway.  Just as she rounded the corner, tears blinding her eyes, she smacked into a person.  Looking up, she discovered it to be yet another Slytherin – Severus Snape – staring down at her with his dark, unforgiving eyes.

She muttered a quick apology and backed away from him.  Unfortunately, she tripped backward over a body, which was sprawled out against the wall and hadn't been there the moment before.

***

_Please review. Thank you._


	3. 2

**What Fools These Mortals Be**

Written by LJP

_Summary:_ Do you find love, or does love find you? Sometimes being in the wrong place at the wrong times changes things in ways unimaginable. This is a story of missed opportunities, time traveling, and finding love in all the wrong places.

_Rating:_ PG13

_Disclaimer:_ Jo Rowling owns any character in this story that is familiar to you. She is a genius, and I bow down to her imagination and ability. Some of this plot is taken from the movie Back to the Future, so I can't really claim that either. Of course, the title comes from my favorite playwright and yours, William Shakespeare and his wonderful work entitled A Midsummer Night's Dream. Thank you, and have a nice day.

*******

Life passes us by in moments.  In every moment, something happens.  That something may be small and insignificant, but every once and a while a moment is reserved for something larger, more important.  Sometimes moments are meant for deaths, or births, or even declarations of love.  And sometimes a moment means that something will occur that changes every other moment from that one on.

I don't know where I heard that for the first time.  But it's completely true.  And, when a moment passes by without completing that which is assigned to it, there's no going back.  That opportunity is missed.  It can never be recovered.

Lily and I had both been experiencing the exact same thing, in the same passageway at Hogwarts, almost two decades apart.  Something, during those few moments, changed, and I was thrown backwards in time, only to land at the exact same place I had left from.  It was in that moment, that something big was supposed to happen.

See, after Lily's altercation with Lucius Malfoy, in the universe we all know, she was meant to have run into Severus Snape, panic, and hurry back to the Gryffindor Tower, where her best friend, one James Potter, would then comfort and console her, thus precipitating their love for one another.  However, since Lily fell over me, that moment passed, and James found Margaret Brown.

It's funny how even the slightest change can alter the course of life entirely.  I don't know if I was meant to land twenty years in the past, but I did.

Imagine my surprise when I woke up in the hospital wing to find Lily Evans and Severus Snape staring over me.  Not to mention a much younger Madam Pomfrey.

***

**Author's Note:**  Sorry it's short, but I hope you all enjoy anyway.  Oh, and please, please, please check out my new webpage, and sign the guestbook: http://www.geocities.com/ljpspooky/harrypotter/main.html  Thanks!


End file.
